When Grades Look Fine…But Something Feels Off
It’s an all-too-familiar scenario: your child comes home with a report card full of A’s, and yet, something doesn’t quite feel right. Maybe homework is taking hours, maybe they seem frustrated, or maybe the skills they’re demonstrating at home don’t match the grades on paper. You’re not imagining it, grades can be misleading.
Grades tell you something, but they don’t tell you everything. They are, by nature, subjective. They often reflect a mix of factors like classroom participation, attendance, project completion, homework, and test or quiz scores, but they don’t always measure your child’s true mastery of skills, especially for students with IEPs or 504 Plans.
Many students have opportunities to retake quizzes or redo assignments until they earn an acceptable grade. While this can build confidence and persistence, it can also create a grade that doesn’t accurately reflect where a student truly is academically. A child may be receiving straight A’s but still be several grade levels below their peers in actual skills like reading, writing, or foundational math concepts.
So, what can you do when something feels off?
Start asking questions. Don’t just accept the grade at face value. You can ask for…
- What went into the grade your child received.
- Work samples showing what was done independently vs. with support
- How many re-takes or opportunities they were given to get to their final grade
- How they are measuring up to state standards for their grade level
- Copies of recent formative assessments (short, skill-based checks)
- Progress monitoring data toward IEP goals
- Results from benchmark or diagnostic assessments (like iReady, DIBELS, MAP, etc.)
- Notes on how often support or prompting is required during classwork
- Data from related service providers (OT, speech, counseling)
- Teacher input forms or classroom observation data
Anything objective like samples of student work, test scores, and benchmark assessments will give you a clearer picture of your child’s progress than a letter grade alone. You can also track progress over time. Grades fluctuate, but consistent patterns in skills and understanding are more telling.
Remember: grades are a piece of the puzzle, not the whole story. If something feels off, it probably is. Trust your instincts, ask questions, and dig into the data behind the grades. That’s where you’ll find the real story of your child’s learning.